Louise et al,
Yes, I completely agree that 'rolling years' online subscriptions are
utterly undesirable. We don't throw away our print copies of INFORMS
journals once they are more than four years old, so why do INFORMS
imagine that we want to do that with the online version?
It is intersting to note that when ACS changed from their "current year
plus four additional years" policy to "content from 1996 onwards" they
said that this was "a direct outgrowth of our ongoing commitment to
listen to our customers, enhance their satisfaction and expand access to
our content".
So ACS say librarians want access back to a fixed year and INFORMS say
we want rolling years!
My preferred model is that current subscribers should be granted online
access to all available years (or to a fixed year where the publisher
also has an archive product), but upon cancellation would only retain
access to the years that they subscribed.
For archive products I prefer the choice of a purchase or subscription.
I am happy for the archive to expand annually by adding one year's
content, but only if that leads to an overlap with the 'current
subscription' product. A subscription to, or purchase of, an archive
product should NEVER be required just to hold on to content that you
have already paid for through a current subscription.
Terry Bucknell
Electronic Resources Manager
Sydney Jones Library
University of Liverpool
Chatham St, PO Box 123
Liverpool, L69 3DA, UK
Tel: +44 (0)151 794 2692
Fax: +44 (0)151 794 2681
-----Original Message-----
From: An informal open list set up by the UK Serials Group
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Louise Cole
Sent: 12 March 2007 14:18
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Rolling Archive Policy
Dear Patricia (copied to the list as your message was sent out on it to
all members)
I have read your message, posted to the list a few weeks ago, with
increasing disappointment and concern, and after some consideration
would like to comment on several points.
1. You quote that there is an 'established publishers' standard' that
allows access to online material for the current year plus four archive
years. Not so. The vast majority of publishers include an online
archive back to years in the late 1990s; some are even more generous.
Few have adopted rolling archives, such as the one introduced by
INFORMS, and those who have are more than aware that it is not a
practice welcomed by the library or academic community.
2. You imply that the rolling archive policy was always made
transparent by INFORMS in its online terms and conditions. Not true -
if this was the case it would have been generally known. The fact that,
as a previous message by Randy Kiefer states, INFORMS was unable to
enforce this policy due to technical restrictions, means little if we
never knew about it in the first place! I was also more than a little
dismayed to read that the rolling archive policy had been adopted as
'that is what librarians want'. Ask any librarian and I really do not
think the consensus will be that the loss of a year's online content
each year is what we want. Your comments on the technical problems
previous to the Highwire move being 'a challenge' hardly help.
3. You state below that 'The rolling access meshes with access to
embargoed content through aggregators such as EBSCO, ProQuest and
JSTOR.'
Irrelevant, surely? We are talking about subscribers to your journals,
not subscribers of these databases. Embargo arrangements with databases
are quite different.
4. Now to your third paragraph, and the crux of the matter. You state
that 'INFORMS will indeed be introducing an archival product in the near
future that will cover all issues back to volume 1, issue 1 for all our
journals ... Archive I will include issues from 1985 to the end of the
coverage of a current subscription. Every year, the oldest year in the
current subscription will become part of Archive I. This product will
have a one-time purchase price and a modest annual maintenance fee.'
Let me get this straight in my mind. Each current subscription includes
four (or this year, five) years of back access. At the end of that
subscription the earliest year included in a current subscription moves
into a large archive which has to be purchased as a whole. Call me a
bit cynical but isn't this effectively removing the content from view
unless an institution has the funds to purchase a whole archive?
5. Back to that rolling archive policy. I quote from your message
below: 'Once the archives are available for purchase, our subscription
policy will revert to our current year plus four years access format.
This policy was developed by our board, whose members were primarily
academics, when INFORMS went online in 1999.' Now things become a
little clearer.
The policy was developed largely by academics, but not made public to
subscribers. Institutions who subscribe do so to support learning,
teaching and research: i.e. to support the work of academics. I
question whether the INFORMS board clearly understood the implications
of their policy; or was it thought to be of little importance until the
access COULD be technically restricted? Sort of 'what they don't know
can't hurt them?' I can assure you that academics who use the content
often think it appears by magic and feel extremely short-changed if any
part of a subscription is suddenly removed; as they should, as
publications are only purchased and maintained to support their key
areas of study.
I'd like to ask if others feel as strongly as I do about this matter. I
have already raised the rolling archive policy change with my senior
colleagues at Leeds and they are considering a discussion at a higher
level at SCONUL on this and other e-access issues which affect the
provision of a high quality, reliable service to our customers.
With best wishes
Louise
Louise Cole
Electronic Resources Team Leader
University of Leeds
Leeds
LS2 9JT
tel: 0113 34 35502
email: [log in to unmask]
co-owner lis-e-journals
------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Patricia S. Shaffer writes:
On January 10, Louise Cole of the University of Leeds expressed her
concern abut INFORMS' rolling archive policy. Her concerns are serious
and deserve an explanation, as well as appropriate action on our part.
INFORMS current subscriptions, following an established publishers'
standard, cover access for the current year plus four archive years
(2007- 2003). Our online terms and conditions have always stated that
INFORMS provides online service with a service period from January 1st
to December 31st of the subscription year. Annual renewals are required
for continued access to the current plus four years. The rolling access
meshes with access to embargoed content through aggregators such as
EBSCO, ProQuest and JSTOR. INFORMS has never restricted participation to
specific aggregators, to ensure the broadest possible access to our
archival content prior to the period covered in current subscriptions.
The challenge has been to maintain those rules of access in place with
our journal hosts; unfortunately, we were largely unsuccessful until we
moved to HighWire.
INFORMS faced a new challenge this year. The recent transition to
HighWire as the host for INFORMS, where these rules are now actually in
effect, would have discontinued access to the 2002 journal year to all
2006 subscribers after our grace period of February 15th. 2007-only
subscribers are limited to issues beginning in 2003. Given the change in
hosts and the inconsistent enforcement of the rules before moving to
HighWire, we are setting a special policy for this year. INFORMS will
extend access to current plus five years for 2007 subscriptions
(2007-2002). There will be no loss of access to 2002 issues for 2007
renewals and new subscribers.
As Ms. Cole points out, INFORMS will indeed be introducing an archival
product in the near future that will cover all issues back to volume 1,
issue 1 for all our journals. This archive will offer hundreds of issues
never before available electronically directly through INFORMS to
libraries. The metadata is being rekeyed and organized to allow more in-
depth searches at the keyword and abstract level. INFORMS plans to
introduce the archives in two parts. Archive I will include issues from
1985 to the end of the coverage of a current subscription. Every year,
the oldest year in the current subscription will become part of Archive
I.
This product will have a one-time purchase price and a modest annual
maintenance fee. Archive II will cover issues from 1984-1952, and will
offer the balance of issues from the six oldest INFORMS journals.
Archive II will have a modest one-time fee to cover the administrative
costs. Both archives will be hosted at HighWire and tracked in the usage
reports, and will be available for abstract/keyword searches. Pricing
and release dates are not yet finalized. INFORMS will publish this
information when it is available.
Once the archives are available for purchase, our subscription policy
will revert to our current year plus four years access format. This
policy was developed by our board, whose members were primarily
academics, when INFORMS went online in 1999. The business rules are
based on the observation that our most valuable research material is
found in the current five years of journal articles. As noted above, the
backfile articles are also available from several aggregators.
Feel free to contact us with your concerns. If you have strong opinions
about INFORMS journals, we'll even welcome you to an INFORMS library
panel. Direct your comments to
Patricia S. Shaffer
Director of Publications
Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS)
(443) 757-3500 ext. 570
[log in to unmask] <http://www.informs.org>
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